I wanted to change things up after playing the Mimeoplasm for years since he came out, Sidisi adds a different kind of combo potential to the deck provided you have a reshuffle effect like an Eldrazi. With either Lightning Greaves/Cephalid Illusionist or Mesmeric Orb/Basalt Monolith, you can infinitely mill yourself to make an unending army of zombies! Those can either mill the opponents at instant speed with Altar of Dementia or just attack if you get a turn with them. If the combo plan doesn't work, you can function as a strong reanimator deck, with the potential for things like a turn 2 Jin-Gitaxias or Tidespout Tyrant. The deck draws inspiration from ThopterDepths - if the scary combo isn't happening, you have a powerful control plan.
Everyone seems to think that she's pretty bad in multiplayer, but that's not the case in my experience. Giving her a Pike tends to end the game on the spot, one opponent at a time, and it's not like protecting or resolving her is anything hard.
Gifts Ungiven is my favorite card of all time, and when it got banned I was pretty disappointed. Recently I picked up some pieces to make a Gifts Rock deck work in EDH, albeit without Gifts. I'm not opposed to adding combos to the deck, but I want the pieces to serve a real function without the other part of the combo, so Mikaeus and Triskelion are both fine, since Trisk works so well with Mimeoplasm, but things like Exsanguinate with infinite mana are a little iffy since the card is frequently pretty bad on its own.
There are a ton of ways to search out whichever effect you need at the moment and ample ways to bring them back when required. Even an average draw lets you dominate the mid and late game, with the potential for busted starts like a turn 2 Primordial or Tidespout Tyrant.
Hey, I'd love if you could make me a signature with a kind of ethereal, dreamy or celestial (not really a mood per say, but I really dig your pieces with that kind of atmosphere, like the signature with Angel of Serenity on the far left) mood to it, working in the arts of Bitterblossom, Vendilion Clique (Morningtide), Ancestral Vision, and Jace the Mindsculptor. If there's any way that Meloku, the Clouded Mirror would look cool in there, that'd be great, but he's not needed, especially if he doesn't work with the rest of them. Saw that you wanted to limit it to four requests but have done many pieces with more card arts in them! Thanks for your time!
I don't think River Kelpie works how you think it works, you get the card draw for things coming out of graveyards, not getting put into them. Wrathing with a Kelpie in play only draws you one card from the persisting Kelpie, Snapcasting a Wrath draws you one for the flashback, etc. I'm pretty confused about the role of the card in the deck since you have very little graveyard interaction.
Have you thought about Lightmine Field for a prison piece? I'm not sure that it's better than either of the Propaganda effects, but I think it's worth considering - I see a lot of players at the local shop run it in their Isperia Prison lists to great effect.
How aggressively do you usually play the deck? I'm not sure that Death Cloud is what you want to be doing if you typically have Varolz out to fuel your engines. If you're more controlling it's fine, I used to love it in Glissa, but you don't seem to have too many ways to minimize its drawbacks.
I'd suggest cutting Skithryx and Green Sun's Zenith for Lord of Extinction and Liliana of the Veil. I see that you don't like LoE because of having lots of graveyard hate in your meta, but he accomplishes the same goal of killing an opponent in one hit and opens you up to the possibility of using him with Jarad to wipe out the rest of the table. You don't have too many green creatures where I would see you wanting GSZ over something like Worldly Tutor, Demonic Collusion (I like this card a lot but the manacost is prohibitive, but in BG with Loam I've become a big fan), or even Grim Tutor if you have one laying around.
Liliana is synergistic with your graveyard strategies, takes out hexproof creatures thanks to your ample removal, and pressures all of the control and combo decks at the table simultaneously. She's been really strong for me in Glissa and Mimeoplasm, but to be honest Varolz is still on my to-do list.
I'd consider Bitterblossom too, it's a good way to always have something to sacrifice to Varolz or Skullclamp, but you might not need it.
I'm guessing you don't like combos? No Tooth and Nail, Mikaeus, or Triskelion? Mikaeus especially would be very strong here even without the others.
Updated my list after getting a few games in throughout the week, so far I haven't lost a match. The deck that really gave me a run for my money was a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben mana-denial/white weenie list! Luckily all of his taxes were found unlawful by the Azorius Senate, and a Mystical Tutor for Devastation Tide wiped his board allowing me to recover from a turn 1 Serra Ascendant into Thalia and Thorn of Amethyst. Locked him out of the game the following turn with Archaeomancer followed by almost limitless counterspells thanks to Venser flickering my wizard.
I see a lot of blink decks using Rasputin Dreamweaver as their general, but I'm not terribly interested in making absurd amounts of mana for big spells, I'd rather get the acceleration for a ton of spells starting early while maximizing powerful instant speed plays. Being able to counter a spell or blink a guy for only a single mana is more important than ramping into Ulamog. And besides, Rasputin is here in spirit, he's standing right behind Augustin in the art (really, check it out, he even has his staff)!
The basic win conditions are Reveillark combo, Tidespout combo, abusing Ghostly Flicker, and plain ol' flying beatdown if those won't work. I've never ultimated Jace, but Venser is surprisingly easy to protect and fires off emblems more frequently than you would think.
Here's where I'm at now (foils are just for me to keep track):
The last couple slots are pretty flexible, I've been fooling around with things like more card draw, Familiar's Ruse, and plan on throwing a Gilded Drake in there once I get around to buying one.
What kind of cards should I be looking to add? I'm planning on buying a Mana Crypt and a Mana Drain after I buy a motorcycle, so price isn't really a concern! Anything important for a blink deck that I'm overlooking? What cards do the most work for your Augustin decks? My goal is to have my list be as close to perfect as possible, but I'm not opposed to using a few slots for fun cards for when playing with friends rather than competitive four-man pods.
Yes, playing for top8 of a MOCS last year, something bugged where my opponent ran out of time on my turn yet still managed to untap and kill me to take the match. Since the MOCS had no entry fee at the time, I didn't get anything aside from my prize for top16 despite asking for some form of compensation.
CawBlade, ThopterDepths, or Gifts Rock! I like playing decks that can grind out an advantage over time while also having a powerful strategy in place from turn 1. Gifts Ungiven is my favorite card.
Ghave or Rafiq seem like good options, Ghave lets you combine the token strategy you liked from Teysa with some awesome answers like Pernicious Deed, Maelstrom Pulse, and is pretty easy to find ways to go infinite with (ex Blade of the Bloodchief and Ashnod's Altar making infinite mana). Rafiq presents a quick threat that kills in one or two hits as well as working well with creatures like Cephalid Constable and Cold-Eyed Selkie
This is a really cool deck, I've never actually seen anybody play Sedris before, only NicolB and Thraximundar as far as Grixis goes. I don't think you can cut Deadeye Navigator though - I'm sure there are games that just become grinds, especially in a comboless meta like MCR's. The interaction with unearth is a really strong way to take over a game like that (since both unearth and Navigator want to move the creature to exile, unearth doesn't have a problem with it and the unearthed creature gets safely navigated back to play permanently).
I like the ability to have a backup plan in addition to the Dragon combo, and that seems like one of the best ways to add to the strategy. Anytime you have Sedris and Deadeye in play, you get effectively unlimited, uncounterable reanimation spells, and that seems like something that the format is all about to me.
Apocalypse sounds like a really cool idea with Dragon, but if you've already reanimated him you should probably be winning without it.
Here's my list so far:
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Command Tower
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Flooded Grove
4 Forest
1 Hinterland Harbor
2 Island
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Opulent Palace
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Strip Mine
4 Swamp
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Watery Grave
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Acidic Slime
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Deranged Assistant
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Eternal Witness
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Golgari Grave-Troll
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm
1 Mulldrifter
1 Narcomoeba
1 Palinchron
1 Progenitor Mimic
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Shriekmaw
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Terastodon
1 The Mimeoplasm
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Wood Elves
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Altar of Dementia
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Dimir Signet
1 Golgari Signet
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mesmeric Orb
1 Simic Signet
1 Sol Ring
1 Buried Alive
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Dread Return
1 Exhume
1 Life // Death
1 Life from the Loam
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Mulch
1 Reanimate
1 Regrowth
1 Worm Harvest
1 Arcane Denial
1 Beast Within
1 Dimir Charm
1 Entomb
1 Force of Will
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Pact of Negation
1 Sultai Charm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Sultai Ascendancy
1 Sylvan Library
1 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
* = foil
1 Underground Sea (FBB French)
1 Watery Grave *
1 Command Tower *
1 Secluded Glen *
1 Temple of Deceit *
1 Sunken Ruins *
1 Underground River *
1 River of Tears *
1 Darkslick Shores *
1 Drowned Catacomb *
1 Creeping Tar Pit *
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth *
1 Dreadship Reef *
1 Faerie Conclave *
1 Riptide Laboratory *
1 Cavern of Souls *
1 Reliquary Tower *
1 Strip Mine *
1 Inkmoth Nexus *
1 Mutavault *
12 Island *
1 Swamp *
1 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
6 Mana Rocks
1 Sol Ring *
1 Mana Crypt
1 Dimir Signet *
1 Talisman of Dominance *
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Jet Medallion
1 Snapcaster Mage *
1 Venser, Shaper Savant *
1 Notion Thief *
1 Voidmage Husher *
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir *
1 Draining Whelk *
1 Consecrated Sphinx *
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur *
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
10 Counterspells
1 Arcane Denial
1 Remand *
1 Mana Drain
1 Muddle the Mixture *
1 Spell Crumple
1 Faerie Trickery *
1 Cryptic Command *
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Force of Will
1 Commandeer *
9 Removal
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Sudden Death *
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Damnation *
1 Decree of Pain *
1 Dominate *
1 Evacuation *
1 Treachery
1 Reins of Power
15 Card Selection/Draw
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Ponder *
1 Preordain *
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor *
1 Mystical Tutor *
1 Impulse *
1 Demonic Tutor (FBB)
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rhystic Study *
1 Fact or Fiction *
1 Mystical Teachings *
1 Bident of Thassa *
1 Blue Sun's Zenith *
2 Token Makers
1 Bitterblossom *
1 Call of the Nightwing *
3 Equipment
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Runechanter's Pike *
1 Batterskull *
9 Other
1 Shred Memory *
1 Time Walk *
1 Faerie Macabre *
1 Faerie Tauntings *
1 Sunder
1 Cyclonic Rift *
1 Dire Undercurrents *
1 Leyline of Anticipation *
1 Expedition Map *
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Windswepth Heath
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Twilight Mire
1 Flooded Grove
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 River of Tears
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Barren Moor
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Strip Mine
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Island
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Sakura Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Shriekmaw
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Mulldrifter
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
1 Phyrexian Delver
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Genesis
1 Body Double
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
1 Acidic Slime
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Triskelion
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Sepulchral Primodial
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Palinchron
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Intuition
1 Buried Alive
1 Jarad's Orders
1 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Dimir Signet
1 Golgari Signet
1 Simic Signet
1 Sylvan Library
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Arcane Denial
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Spell Crumple
1 Forbid
1 Force of Will
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Damnation
1 Life's Finale
1 Reanimate
1 Life from the Loam
1 Exhume
1 Life // Death
1 Necromancy
1 The Mimeoplasm
There are a ton of ways to search out whichever effect you need at the moment and ample ways to bring them back when required. Even an average draw lets you dominate the mid and late game, with the potential for busted starts like a turn 2 Primordial or Tidespout Tyrant.
I'd suggest cutting Skithryx and Green Sun's Zenith for Lord of Extinction and Liliana of the Veil. I see that you don't like LoE because of having lots of graveyard hate in your meta, but he accomplishes the same goal of killing an opponent in one hit and opens you up to the possibility of using him with Jarad to wipe out the rest of the table. You don't have too many green creatures where I would see you wanting GSZ over something like Worldly Tutor, Demonic Collusion (I like this card a lot but the manacost is prohibitive, but in BG with Loam I've become a big fan), or even Grim Tutor if you have one laying around.
Liliana is synergistic with your graveyard strategies, takes out hexproof creatures thanks to your ample removal, and pressures all of the control and combo decks at the table simultaneously. She's been really strong for me in Glissa and Mimeoplasm, but to be honest Varolz is still on my to-do list.
I'd consider Bitterblossom too, it's a good way to always have something to sacrifice to Varolz or Skullclamp, but you might not need it.
I'm guessing you don't like combos? No Tooth and Nail, Mikaeus, or Triskelion? Mikaeus especially would be very strong here even without the others.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512604
Thanks!
The basic win conditions are Reveillark combo, Tidespout combo, abusing Ghostly Flicker, and plain ol' flying beatdown if those won't work. I've never ultimated Jace, but Venser is surprisingly easy to protect and fires off emblems more frequently than you would think.
Here's where I'm at now (foils are just for me to keep track):
2 Polluted Delta
3 Marsh Flats
4 Arid Mesa
5 Tundra
6 Hallowed Fountain - Foil
7 Celestial Colonnade - Foil
8 Glacial Fortress - Foil
9 Mystic Gate - Foil
10 Nimbus Maze - Foil
11 Seachrome Coast - Foil
12 Skycloud Expanse - Foil
13 Command Tower - Foil
14 Reflecting Pool
15 Azorius Chancery - Foil
16 Azorius Guildgate - Foil
17 Adarkar Wastes - Foil
18 Seat of the Synod - Foil
19 Ancient Den - Foil
20 Halimar Depths - Foil
21 Reliquary Tower - Foil
22 Prahv, Spires of Order - Foil
23 Strip Mine - Foil
36 Sol Ring - Foil
37 Mind Stone - Foil
38 Azorius Signet - Foil
39 Azorius Cluestone - Foil
40 Ashnod's Altar
41 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
42 Venser, the Sojourner - Foil
44 Knight of the White Orchid - Foil
45 Snapcaster Mage - Foil
46 Phantasmal Image
47 Aven Riftwatcher - Foil
48 Stonecloaker - Foil
49 Man-o-War
50 Sea Gate Oracle - Foil
51 Trinket Mage - Foil
52 Solemn Simulacrum - Foil
53 Phyrexian Metamorph - Foil
54 Restoration Angel - Foil
55 Archaeomancer - Foil
56 Venser, Shaper Savant
57 Karmic Guide - Foil
58 Reveillark
59 Mulldrifter - Foil
60 Mnemonic Wall - Foil
61 Body Double
62 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - Foil
63 Sun Titan - Foil
64 Draining Whelk
65 Consecrated Sphinx
66 Deadeye Navigator - Foil
67 Duplicant - Foil
68 Angel of Serenity - Foil
69 Luminate Primordial - Foil
70 Chancellor of the Spires - Foil
71 Tidespout Tyrant - Foil
73 Remand - Foil
74 Muddle the Mixture - Foil
75 Spell Crumple
76 Cryptic Command
77 Force of Will
78 Swords to Plowshares
79 Cyclonic Rift - Foil
80 Detention Sphere - Foil
81 Wrath of God - Foil
82 Supreme Verdict - Foil
83 Devastation Tide - Foil
84 Terminus - Foil
85 Preordain
86 Ponder
87 Mystical Tutor - Foil
88 Sensei's Divining Top - Foil
89 Fact or Fiction - Foil
90 Sphinx's Revelation - Foil
91 Momentary Blink - Foil
92 Otherworldly Journey - Foil
93 Ghostly Flicker - Foil
94 Crystal Shard - Foil
95 Aethermage's Touch - Foil
96 Return to Dust
97 Future Sight - Foil
98 Memory Lapse - Foil
99 Rhystic Study - Foil
100 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV - Foil
The last couple slots are pretty flexible, I've been fooling around with things like more card draw, Familiar's Ruse, and plan on throwing a Gilded Drake in there once I get around to buying one.
What kind of cards should I be looking to add? I'm planning on buying a Mana Crypt and a Mana Drain after I buy a motorcycle, so price isn't really a concern! Anything important for a blink deck that I'm overlooking? What cards do the most work for your Augustin decks? My goal is to have my list be as close to perfect as possible, but I'm not opposed to using a few slots for fun cards for when playing with friends rather than competitive four-man pods.
I like the ability to have a backup plan in addition to the Dragon combo, and that seems like one of the best ways to add to the strategy. Anytime you have Sedris and Deadeye in play, you get effectively unlimited, uncounterable reanimation spells, and that seems like something that the format is all about to me.
Apocalypse sounds like a really cool idea with Dragon, but if you've already reanimated him you should probably be winning without it.